Western Collegiate Hockey Association
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's-only conference.
| Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 WCHA women's ice hockey season | |
| Formerly | Midwest Collegiate Hockey League (1951–53) Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (1953–58) |
|---|---|
| Association | NCAA |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Commissioner | Tracy Dill |
| Sports fielded |
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| Division | Division I |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Headquarters | Bloomington, Minnesota |
| Region | Midwestern United States |
| Official website | http://www.wcha.com |
| Locations | |
From 1951 to 1999, it operated as a men-only league, adding women's competition in the 1999–2000 season. It operated men's and women's leagues through the 2020–21 season; during this period, the men's WCHA expanded to include teams far removed from its traditional Midwestern base, with members in Alabama, Alaska, and Colorado at different times. The men's side of the league officially disbanded after seven members left to form the revived Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA); the WCHA remains in operation as a women-only league.
WCHA member teams won a record 38 men's NCAA hockey championships, most recently in 2011 by the Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs. A WCHA team also finished as the national runner-up a total of 28 times. WCHA teams also won the first 13 NCAA women's titles, which were first awarded in 2001.